SHOULD CANADA HAVE QUIT KYOTO?

Canada is formally withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, abandoning the world’s only legally binding plan to tackle global warming. Harper himself disdains the Kyoto Protocol because it fails to include the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters – China and the United States.

The reasons the Harper government for this move is that it would be too expensive for Canada to cut emissions to the levels required. Environment Minister Peter Kent predicted other countries will follow Canada’s example and bail out.

Environments and opposition Mps rejected Mr. Kent’s arguments and charged Canada’s reputation has been damaged by its role in disrupting other countries’ efforts to approve a second phase of Kyoto.

Green Party leader, Elizabeth May, fought back tears as she reacted to the news. She said, “This is just not big, this is disastrous for Canada. I’m embarrassed to be represented by this government.

Do you believe that man-made climate change should be regulated by an international body?

I am not a Harper supporter, but (isn’t there always a “but”)…in this case he was right to bail out. I don’t care how it appears to other countries. We don’t get the respect we deserve anyway. If it would have cost us billions, we can not afford it.
The whole environment issue is a sticky wicket. Once the USA & China get on board, we should talk. In the meantime, I like that Quebec is going to get clunkers off the road. The government should start fining companies for polluting-I haven’t see any sign of that yet. There are too many inconsistencies in environmental policies to suit me. Don’t misunderstand. It’s a critical situation, once people decide on that, there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on how to proceed.

But, Patti, there is a problem here. Canada used to punch above our weight on the world’s stage. Remember the reputation of our peace-keepers. Best in the world. (I once had lunch with Canadian peace-keepers on the Golan heights.) Now we are seen as quitters. Sad.

Quite appropriate that a photo of a polar bear accompanies this post. Long seen as a symbol of global warming (poor polar bear stick on a melting ice floe), the polar bear is no more in danger of extinction than we are from the hoaz known as global warming. Heck, we live in a cold country…let’s HOPE global warming is a reality! Sadly, it is not.

Hi Neil- At what cost? We did have Peace keepers to be proud of. I have a brother-in-law who was blown up in Cyprus. He survived, but his pension is pitiful.
How many times have we been disrespected by Presidents-forgetting to acknowledge our service.
Sorry, I haven’t changed my mind.